If you've ever left a job without another one to go to, what happened?

[RussellSprout]

I recently started a new job and decided fairly early on it's not for me. I didn't want to put it on my CV as I already have one other recent short lived job and thought it would be too damaging to have two.. also I wanted to keep myself free for interviews etc.

So I find myself unemployed. Financially we can manage on my husband's salary although things will be tight, and it's important that I now find the right job (at least I know now what I do want after getting something I don't) so I'm prepared for a bit of a wait until I get the right job.

But it's scary! I've not been unemployed for 9 years. Would love to hear some stories of others who've been in similar boat and how it turned out... did you have to wait a while to find the right thing? How did you cope? What did you tell prospective employers and how did they react?

Feeling a bit low that I've ended up in this position, it's very easy for things to go awry when you move jobs, hoping my luck turns soon!

I had a hideous job a few years ago. One day the boss was vile to me (again) and it was the last straw. I immediately resigned, but stayed to work my notice of a couple of months.

I spent most of those months job hunting while pretending to work, and found one just before I was due to leave. The new job expected me to have a notice period, so I got a month off and went to Thailand (no DC!).

I'm so so glad I did this, but I know I was lucky.

I’ve left one job after a week and another after a month. They are not on my CV.

I found a perm job within a month for the first job and a temp job within two weeks of quitting the last one.

If you know it's not for you and if you can manage in the interim on one salary then well done on making a brave decision. Yes it is scary but you can always sign up with an agency for temping work whilst you search for your next job. It will tide you over in the meantime and you will have enough time to apply for other jobs.

I ended up with no work for two years, getting more and more depressed. Then one day I fell into a part time role which was supposed to be a stop gap to finding a full time job.. I have been there 6 years now but it works for me and now our family.

I've not done it, but DH has a few times and I have a few friends who will walk away from jobs they don't like without a second glance and without having anything else lined up - they are usually in careers that are pretty in demand (such as IT or accounts stuff) and seem to get new jobs within a month or two. So I think if there's lots of jobs around in your field it's not a problem - I wouldn't do it myself because I'm in a field with a fair amount of people chasing relatively few jobs, but I know other people cope just fine in other fields.

I reached out to two close former colleagues who I would want to use as referances the day before I resigned, mainly to use as a sounding board. I also rang a recruiter who had been persuing me for several months. Handed my notice in, by the end of the following day I'd been offered a job via friend 1, friend 2 recommend me for a maternity cover position and had an interview lined up via the recruiter.
Quiting was the best thing I ever did, I was miserable but I knew I'd secure something new before my lengthy notice period was up due to my profession being heavily in demand.

Curious, as I'm considering leaving my job after just 4 months there. How do you leave a short-lived job off your CV? Surely the HR Department at your new company will see from your P45 that you've been receiving a salary for the past few months?

Interesting as I may be doing this in a few months’ time. It’s hard for me to get time off to attend interviews esp as I don’t want my current boss to know I’m job hunting.
They say it’s easier to find a job if you’re already working but they don’t take into account the time it takes to look for a job!!

I have done so a couple of times.

The jobs I left were causing serious stress and I have a chronic health condition so don't have a lot of resilience anyway. It wasn't in my best interests to hang around as I was too ill to cope with interviews etc.

Quitting allowed me to recover enough to apply for new jobs or retrain, so it was worth it. Ideally I would always have another job to go to, but sometimes life doesn't go to plan.

I am well qualified and experienced so generally considered employable (as long as I don't disclose my disability before interview), so it hasn't been too difficult to find a new post, but I have had to take jobs with less hours and responsibility (and salary) due to my health, and have been very fortunate to have some savings and also the support of DH otherwise I would have been fucked.

IMO no job is worth seriously damaging your health for. Both times I wished I had quit sooner because 1) my health improved so much once I left, and 2) being forced to consider new options actually enhanced my career.

However, I would still recommend looking seriously and realistically at your alternatives, rather than just saying 'fuck it' one day and leaving yourself skint and jobless. Can you afford some time out? Will you need to retrain? What about pension and other benefits connected to your current job? Sometimes its still worth it but do be aware of your options (or lack of them).

Make sure you have a plan.

The first job I left I had been at for nearly a year so I do still put it on my CV, but I have a period of unemployment afterwards (due to my poor health) that I initially described as 'retraining' using online courses. I have learned the hard way never to mention my health condition on application forms

I did study at the time but not nearly equivalent to a full time job, but it filled the gap. It is so long ago now that no one notices or cares about the gap in my employment record.

The second time I got a new post within 2 weeks and wondered what the fuck I had been so worried about

I got a long term temp job within 3 days.

Another time I didnt find any temp work for a few weeks, quite dismal callling all the time, i think they were as relieved as me when they found me some work!

Well, I have managed to find some temporary work for 6 weeks, which suits me down to the ground as it will allow me time to wait it out on the market for the right permanent jobs which do not come up every day.

Luckily I have an in demand skill set for the kind of work that is available on a temp basis, I only really started looking this week and had recruiters speak to me about 5 opportunities so far, I think being immediately available and willing to do short term work is a massive factor.

Unfortunately these are not the kind of jobs I want to do long term but they are ok as a short term fix. The problem now is waiting it out for the more suitable longer term jobs but my new manager has said she will be flexible on letting me take time out for interviews.

Such a minefield when you are new in a job that's gone wrong and want to take time out for interviews without it becoming obvious, only so many short notice holidays you can take and it's not on to go off sick in probation. But if you free yourself up for interviews by quitting you need to be able to explain why it was so bad that you didn't stick it!

Really hoping I can get the right long term role soon, I never want to be in this situation again and I will probably think long and hard before leaving a settled stable job again!!

@taleofthecontinents I'm not too worried about the P45 situation.. you don't actually need a P45 these days as you can complete a new starter checklist and payroll then get your tax code from HMRC. But it's usually only payroll who would see a P45 anyway and unless you work somewhere really small, or in the payroll department itself, I doubt this would hit anyone's radar.

I'm certainly not putting the last job on my CV as I was there less than a month and made a deliberate decision to 'commit or quit' as more than a month or two and I think you need to put it on.

I have realised both through these boards and by speaking to many recruiters recently that it's actually quite common for jobs not to work out, so long as its not happening all the time and you have a narrative for why you left that doesn't raise red flags, it's not a massive problem.